This is about getting Durham moving on the I-40 bridge and "Phase E" of
the
American Tobacco Trail
that will connect the existing six (or so)
miles of paved trail in Durham south across the Interstate and down to
Massey Chapel Rd
on a 10' wide paved surface. From Massey Chapel
south to the Chatham line may be paved, or may be surfaced with compacted
granite screenings (to be determined—in the petitioned design).
Either way, this would mean paved trail from (at least) Massey Chapel north all the way to the
American Tobacco Campus
and Durham Bulls Ball Park.

AFAIK, under the current situation (without the bridge), to
connect to
the Trail from Raleigh (or Morrisville or Cary) the best biking
options are to:

I don't mind those options riding solo, but I wouldn't take kids on
those routes, or even a group of adults, unless I was really confident
in their biking-with-traffic skills.

If the Chatham Co. section is paved, it makes sense to pave ALL of
this section, including Chatham Co-to-Massey Chapel Rd., but even
if we only
get Massey Chapel to the existing Durham Trail paved, it'll be a BIG
benefit. Around Massey Chapel Rd. there's lot of small low-speed
neighborhood streets that could really use good bike/ped
connectivity to
Durham. (Take a look at the
map of these neighborhoods
—lots of good
redundant routes instead of squeezing all the traffic into one
corridor—nice!)

This bridge should have been built when the Southpoint Mall was built
and the Fayetteville Rd. bridge expanded. From a utilitarian
point of
view, this makes a LOT more sense than the Meredith/Museum of Art
bridge built over I-40 in Raleigh last summer. The Durham Bridge
should not be put off any longer.

We've set up an
online petition
asking Durham City Staff and Officials to complete the American Tobacco Trail in Durham.

This is the same petition which was available for signature at the
Festival for the Eno last weekend. Over 400 folks signed it! If
you are
among those that *did* sign the Festival printed petition, you are
welcome to sign this one as well. Or not! Do as you please. Do
note that
you can leave comments on this online petition that you could not with
the printed material.

The petition is self explanatory, so I won't include more here.

Please let me know if you
have any questions or comments about this. Please call at my phone
below if you'd prefer.

Also, please pass this link
http://www.petitiononline.com/att2/petition.html along to other groups
or persons who you think have an interest in the American Tobacco
Trail.
Thank you for your continued hard work on and support for the American
Tobacco Trail.